There’s a certain kind of quiet bravery in getting back up when the world is watching. After two years of silence, Lewis Capaldi does just that, standing not in defiance of his struggle, but beside it. His new single, “Survive”, is out now via Capitol Records.
Capaldi, the Scottish singer-songwriter best known for his vocal gut-punches and brutally honest ballads, first captured the world with “Someone You Loved”, a track that’s now certified Diamond in the U.S. and the most-streamed song of all time in the UK. But Survive isn’t about charts. It’s about persistence.
“Most nights I fear that I’m not enough,” Capaldi admits at the start of the track, and that vulnerability doesn’t let up. The song aches. It’s raw. But it’s also hopeful. Lifting itself from the wreckage of self-doubt with a chorus that feels like a breathless, desperate promise: “I swear to God I’ll survive, if it kills me to.”
Co-written with longtime collaborator RØMANS (yes, the same duo behind “Someone You Loved”), “Survive” pairs Capaldi’s scorched cannon of a voice with the kind of swelling, cinematic instrumentation that practically begs for a stadium singalong or a solo cry-drive through your hometown.
It’s no accident this release comes after his powerful but emotionally difficult set at Glastonbury 2023. “Survive” marks a turning point. Not a comeback. A continuation. A choice.
And if the track itself weren’t enough, the accompanying music video, directed by Hector Dockrill, elevates the experience even further. It’s not just a song. It’s a testimony.
Capaldi’s journey has been real. Jagged, aching, and ironically deeply inspired. With over 30 billion global streams, 8 UK Top 10 singles, and a Netflix documentary (How I’m Feeling Now) that laid bare the emotional cost of fame, Capaldi has always sung like survival was the only option. Now, he’s finally saying it out loud.
“Survive” is streaming now on all major platforms. Listen to it with your whole chest.
Alecander Seiler (he/they) is a Creative Writing major with a double minor in Theatre & Studio Arts at the University of Redlands. Passionate about pushing boundaries and amplifying marginalized voices, Alec seeks to create stories that resonate, challenge, and inspire.
I lay comforted by the sounds of a meandering country ditty, imbibing the questions being posed lyrically. How did you become the stranger you sought to escape? How will you escape the ghosts coming for you? The upbeat twang of Will Rainier’s guitar contrasts his dark lyrics which resemble a poem by Poe, in new single “Dance With the Dead”.
Expands Rainier: “I like the sadness in country music—it’s just raw emotional music to me—but I don’t want to recreate anything to the letter. I want the music to be my style, and I like unexpected instruments, like the trumpet, and I like blending styles. I don’t think about any of this when I write—I just let the music come out.”
While the video is, admittedly, reminiscent of a middle school iMovie project, it would be the best one in the class. Filmed across beautiful landscapes in Olympia, Bow, and Lopez Island, Washington, and Bend, Oregon by Jen Garrett, Will Rainier, and Chad Yenney, the video itself was created by Will. The beauty chosen and recorded by Rainier ropes you in to an almost fantastical existence. You can sense the intended darkness behind the song without acquiring it, a true feat.
“Dance with the Dead” is a mixed bag, and Will Rainier is extremely talented. On his new album Smoke ‘em If You Got ‘em, which is available in full soon, he plays most of the instruments, creating his own band from raw talent. He will undoubtedly fuel you with more of his funky bar goer stories and genre breaking combinations.
Susannah Joffe’s newest EP, Cult Leader, is full of Americana inspired pop ballads and represents the lengths that love and heartbreak brings us to. Susannah Joffe is a singer-songwriter originally from Austin, Texas. She has had recent success on social media, particularly with the song, “Die Your Daughter”, which was on her last EP, Your Mother’s Name. But, Joffe has taken a new look on life on Cult Leader, and it’s full of spite, lovelust, heartbreak, and reflection.
The EP’s title track, “Cult Leader”, sets up the theme as Joffe plays spacey pop with a dark country twang. Joffe’s airy vocals sing about americana ideals and tropes while she professes her love-hatred for an ex-lover and his new flame.
As she sings about her confidence in her superiority, a deep jealousy underlies within her words and sets up a complex narrative of love and the inability to move on. Joffe’s vocals are the shining star of this track as her voice ebbs and flows throughout the verses and chorus (reminiscent of Lana Del Rey), and the instrumentals take the backseat to fully allow Joffe to have her moment.
“Antler Queen” keeps up the spaciness that is a mainstay throughout the EP, moving further away from country influence. It’s a bittersweet romance ballad that explores unrequited love and yet again the struggle to move on. The chorus is infectious with a driving drum beat and Joffe’s love proclamations such as, “I’ll shoot you up, Get high on reluctant love.”
The instrumentals on “Antler Queen” are extremely chill with sweet guitars and a stable percussion section to pick up the chorus. As she concludes the song, she reinforces her love’s bittersweetness as she says, “I pledge my heart to you my antler queen.”
“You’d Kill Me If You Could” is a stripped back ballad that sonically serves as a break in the EP’s sound and leans into a 90’s sound. Joffe has given up the loud emotions present in the previous two tracks, and has become sorrowful and reflective. The heartbreaking lyrics portray a harmful relationship and her dealing with the emotional aftermath.
The echoey vocals, acoustic guitars and stripped back percussion, make the song feel like it could’ve been written 30 years ago. Bright synths work with Joffe in the bridge, as she repeats, “Like mother, like daughter.” The phrase is almost a mantra, increasing in intensity the more Joffe says it, and deepens the song’s meaning when you consider the cycle of abuse and what people pass down with them.
“Shit Out Of Luck” is a hazy heartbroken ballad that speaks to unfulfillment and unresolved promises. It is threatening, vengeful and passionate, as she sings, “I’ve got passion and I’ve got a gun.” Electric guitars squeal in the background and Joffe employs a strong percussion section yet again. Joffe’s vocals are the shining star on this track as she uses layered harmonizations to sing words of spite and biblical musings.
“Sofia Coppola” went mildly viral on social media and is a bright lesbian pop power ballad. The song is flirty and full of lust and unabashed attraction. The prechorus is infectious and feels almost like a nursery rhyme, which leads into the double infectious chorus in which she professes, “Idolize you, My Sofia Coppola.”
The bridge is wonderfully layered and Joffe’s vocal capability is put right on display in this track. “Sofia Coppola” is a gorgeous listening experience and uses a blend of strings, synths and percussion, which culminates into a twinkly and magical song about bright eyed love and attraction.
Joffe leans into another consistent trope present on the EP as she writes about a love-hate relationship in “Call Me Pretty.” It’s a complicated dynamic of wanting to both be devalued but cherished as she sings, “I’m your dog and nothing more.” It’s a casual relationship gone wrong, as she invests more than her lover. Her breathy vocals in contrast to the heavy electric guitars build power and tension in the song. The guitars aid Joffe in relaying the final rendition of the chorus and concludes the heartbreakingly honest and self deprecating track.
The EP finishes off strong with the final two tracks, “Stillborns and Six Lane Highways” and “Horses Can’t Outrun Me.” “Stillborns” discusses biblical conflict and terror, as she speaks directly to the people that peddle hate singing, “Heaven hates you” repeatedly. The melodic guitars backing instrumentals are stunning as the beat uplifts the depressive nature of the song. Her echoey and hazy vocals blend amazingly and the rich instrumentals coupled with the lyrics behind create a complex and enjoyable listening experience.
“Horses Can’t Outrun Me” is an excellent end to the EP and is a highlight of the tracklist. Joffe’s bright vocals begin the song as she sings the chorus. A deep electronic bass beat is introduced as she sings of feeling freed of a suffocating relationship and environment. She strips it down and speaks in the pre chorus and then dives into her airy vocals once again.
There is a deep, radical sense of freedom as the lightness of her vocals and the bright guitars, keys and drum beats feed into the energy of the song. As Joffe sings, “Heaven’s where you can’t reach” she ties all of the themes on the EP into one reflecting upon freedom, religious ideation, relationship issues, love, and heartbreak. We are allowed the opportunity to watch Joffe grieve, grow, and change, as we watch her learn and reflect upon her experiences and heartbreak.
It’s an exciting high to leave off on and leaves us wondering what will Joffe take on next in her musical journey? Cult Leader asks a lot and leaves behind very little, as Joffe proves her vocal and musical capabilities and has created a piece of work that is sonically and narratively consistent and clean.
Buick Audra, Nashville singer/songwriter and guitarist, released her fourth album Adult Child on June 13th. She writes for both herself and other artists, and is half of the musical duo Friendship Commanders with Jerry Roe. Her music has a unique style that emphasizes her written lyrics in a way that is reminiscent of something like spoken word poetry. For example, her third album Conversations with My Other Voice was released with a matching memoir of essays. But the production doesn’t suffer for this, instead changing intensity and even genre to match each song.
Adult Child continues this style, never staying in one place for too long. The album mostly fits into the indie rock genre, but songs such as “It All Belonged to Me” are more folk-inspired. Songs like “Birthdays & Bullshit” are full of rage and dominated by drums, but there are several moments on the album where it’s just Audra and her vocals.
At its core, Adult Child is about family and relationships, and the patterns and cycles that we repeat in our lives from our family. But the takeaway from the album is that our origins don’t define us, and we can choose to form an identity all our own. Buick Audra touches on her own estranged relationship with her family, and the album’s title Adult Child reflects the expectations and responsibilities that were placed on her as a child.
“The Worst People Win” is the first track on Adult Child and “Questions for the Gods of Human Behavior” is the lead single off of the album. They serve as the intro into this album for us listeners, and these two songs are instantly relatable to almost anyone. “The Worst People Win”, like it sounds, is about the “fact of life” that the worst people in life are often the most successful. That is insanely relatable to myself, and I’m sure that almost everyone has had a moment in their life where this “fact” comes up. “Questions for the Gods of Human Behavior” looks more inward, questioning why we as humans repeat behaviors that hurt us–also probably a relatable idea for many. These songs also provide an introduction to the indie rock production of the album, which is mostly drums and guitar. Both songs utilize these instruments to provide tension to match the themes of the songs.
“Yellow” takes a turn away from the first two songs to look at Audra herself, and about how she’s internalized what other people have said about her. Again, the production echoes this shift, as the focus is more on Audra’s vocals, and the end totally strips the production down to just a percussion beat and Audra’s vocals. The lyrics repeat three times, with each repetition increasing the layers of her vocals.
“One-Step Close-Up” goes in a different direction again, being a more upbeat song off the album. It uses photography imagery to convey the theme of Audra prioritizing herself rather than others. The fifth song “Birthdays & Bullshit” is the epitome of female rage. The drums are loud, louder than the rest of the album. The song is about the responsibilities that women are expected to have, like being in charge of birthdays. Like the rest of the album, these two songs reflect on Audra’s experience as an adult child and the difficulty that comes with breaking those expectations and relationships.
For me, “It All Belonged to Me” is one of the most devastating songs on this album. The beginning is almost ethereal, all plucky strings and humming, but it isn’t light at all. In this song, Audra writes about where she grew up, and about how she doesn’t go home anymore. “Losing My Courage” is also an emotional song and contains only Audra’s vocals. This song is about just wanting to be listened to–and by design, you as the listener will listen to Audra. It’s truly a beautiful and powerful effect.
As the only acoustic song on the album, “Firstborn” starts to close out the album on a more hopeful note. Like earlier songs, “Firstborn” touches on Audra building a life of her own separate from her past and her family. And like a mantra, the phrase “I got here on my own” is repeated several times. It’s a nice statement for the last “real” song of the album.
“A List” is not a song. Instead, we just hear Audra speaking. This track was recorded on a tape recorder, which does add another layer to her voice here. “A List” is directly about the two pieces that make up this album: Audra’s past and her future. The end also fades into “The Worst People Win,” a nice touch to wrap up this album.
This album serves as a reflection into what being an adult child was like for Buick Audra, and how it still affects her. However, within this reflection, there’s hope that she can and has built her life and identity on her own. The five stages of grief are a cliche idea, but they’re all present in this nine-song album, with acceptance being an essential part of Audra’s journey here. “A list” ends Adult Child with the click of a tape recording. Audra leaves uswith a sense of finality and the hope of moving forward.
Honestav took the main stage at 8pm on Saturday, June 14th, in the lead up to headliner Tech N9ne. His joy was palpable from the moment he stepped on stage, as the hip hop artist from a small town in southern Missouri kept smiling and talking about how he was living his dreams. 2024’s “I’d Rather Overdose” gained him traction, and – having spent a life trying to be a rockstar along with his brothers and sisters – it seems like his dreams are finally coming true.
Wednesday’s single “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” signals the beginning of a new era for the band, and gives audiences the first taste of their new unreleased album, Bleed. “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” is the follow up single to “Elderberry Wine”, which embraced a more light romantic tone compared to their newest single, which is darker and heavier.
Karly Hartzman does what she did best on the band’s last album, Rat Saw God, which is to write heartbreakingly real and specific lyrics that somehow have a universal quality to them. “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” embraces Hartzman’s literary passion for a narrative, and portrays the darkness and irony of the human experience with lines like, “Mounted antlers in the kitchen on a crooked nail.”
The absurdities present in Hartzman’s narrative are juxtaposed with haunting statements like, “Your faceless fear gathers like a mob.” The lyrics are not the only contrasts within the track, as Hartzman’s vocals drastically shift from the beginning to the end of the song. She starts off soft and melodic, and by the track’s conclusion, goes into a full scream. It represents the turmoil that the song offers, and contributes to its chaos.
The instrumentals are divinely executed, as Hartzman’s vocal desperation becomes increased, so does the band. The guitars are heavy and distorted and the drums have an uplifting steadiness to them. From beginning to end, the guitars follow the vocals lead, and serve to emphasize the turbulent narrative within the song.
The instrumentals truly shine during the two instrumental breaks which hike up the action and discordance to create a symphony of angst and turmoil. The track closes with loud heavy drums, screeching guitars, and screaming.
“Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” is representative of what Wednesday excels in, which is creating music with intense emotion and real life narratives packaged in beautiful lyrics and sounds.
Watch the music video for “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” here!
